A social media spat between billionaire tech traders is elevating questions in regards to the journalistic independence of three-year-old information outfit SF Normal, after a reporter representing the outlet reached out to sources for a narrative about VC Ben Horowitz and his spouse Felicia.
The Normal’s sole backer is one other longtime VC, Michael Moritz, and on Thursday evening, in a tirade on the X platform, Horowitz known as the “coming article” a “low-cost hit piece” directed by Moritz and accused Moritz of “having his faux disinformation ‘newspaper’ fabricate hit items on his enterprise rival, me.” Horowitz’s enterprise associate, Marc Andreessen, later waded in to echo the accusations and lob just a few extra insults within the course of.
TechCrunch has reached out to each Moritz and SF Normal Govt Editor Jon Steinberg for remark. Moritz has but to reply, however in an emailed assertion to TechCrunch, Steinberg writes: “I can verify [reporter] Emily Shugerman is engaged on a narrative in regards to the Horowitzes for the San Francisco Normal. Past that, I can’t touch upon the substance of our piece previous to publication.”
The Normal has beforehand coated information about Horowitz and Andreessen; it has additionally printed information about Moritz. Curiously, a few of its protection has been about hundreds of acres of rural land north of San Francisco that’s being acquired by tech entrepreneurs and traders, together with each Moritz and Andreessen.
